WASHINGTON — Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, whose wealth has become a central issue in the 2012 campaign, has taken advantage of an obscure exception in federal ethics laws to avoid disclosing the nature and extent of his holdings.

By offering a limited description of his assets, Romney has made it difficult to know precisely where his money is invested, whether it is offshore or in controversial companies, or whether those holdings could affect his policies or present any conflicts of interest.

In 48 accounts from Bain Capital, the private-equity firm he founded in Boston, Romney declined on his financial disclosure forms to identify the underlying assets, including his holdings in a company that moved U.S. jobs to China and a California firm once owned by Bain that filed for bankruptcy years ago and laid off more than 1,000 workers.

Those are known only because Bain publicly disclosed them in government filings and on the Internet. But most of the underlying assets — the specific investments of Bain funds — are not known because Romney is covered by a confidentiality agreement with the company.

Several of Romney's assets — including a large family trust valued at roughly $100 million, nine overseas holdings and 12 partnership interests — were not named initially on his disclosure forms, emerging months later when he agreed to release his tax returns.

There is no indication that Romney is violating any rules, and his advisers note that his reports have been certified by the Office of Government Ethics, which reviews the disclosures required of presidential candidates.

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Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the disclosure "completely and accurately describes Gov. Romney's assets as required by the law." She said that Romney does not know the details of his investments since he turned them over to a trustee to manage and that ethics officials confirmed that "everything ... was reported correctly" and completely.

Several outside experts across the political spectrum, however, say Romney's disclosure is the most opaque they have encountered, with some suggesting the filing effectively defeats the spirit of disclosure requirements.

"His approach turns the whole purpose of the ethics statute on its ear," said Cleta Mitchell, a Republican lawyer who has represented dozens of candidates and officials in the disclosure process, including Romney's leading challenger for the GOP nomination, Rick Santorum.

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